A Natural
by Feyla
Summary: Hermione doesn't daydream when she's watching quidditch...honestly. Here's a look inside Hermione's mind during a particularly dull quidditch match, in which she ponders and decides Harry's a natural.


Title: A Natural

Rating: K

Summary: Hermione doesn't daydream when she's watching quidditch...honestly. Here's a look inside Hermione's mind during a particularly dull quidditch match, in which she ponders and decides Harry's a natural.

Notes: This is a response to a plot bunny that I adopted over at FictionAlley from XFaerieDustX. I'm not going to post the actual plot bunny here because while that provided the plot for this, it didn't completely make it what it was. I adopted it a few months ago and it has taken me forever to get it right. I've read over it countless times to get it where it is today, and I'm actually quite pleased with it now. It's the first time that I've done anything not by a favourite character of mine, so it was quite a challenge to get it right. I hope this piece reflects Hermione appropriately, and that you'll leave a comment. I'd love to know what everyone thinks after reading this, so please do leave a note!

Thanks to XFaerieDustX for the plot bunny!

**A Natural**

It was a perfect day for a Quidditch match, or so Ron had told Hermione. Only a light breeze, it was neither too hot nor too cold, and the sky was perfectly clear. None of these factors mattered much to Hermione, but Ron had already commented on it several times. Hermione could care less as long as it was a nice day in general. She didn't mind coming to the games, she was always ready to support Harry, but it was much harder to be cheerful about it when it was bad weather.

Ron had told her that today was going to be an easy game for Gryffindor, but it was turning out to be longer than she'd anticipated for something that was predicted to be so easy. The game had already been going on for more than an hour and there had been no sign of the snitch. The two seekers were high in the air, carefully scanning for any sign of it, occasionally moving around a bit when a stray bludger came their way. As Hermione watched the two high in the sky above her, she took in their graceful movements. She hated flying herself, but sometimes she wished she could be up there with Harry; she wished she could be a seeker just for a game, so that she could experience what he experienced. It looked so exhilarating to be a seeker. Especially if the seeker you were watching was Harry Potter. Hermione may not know much about quidditch, but she knew Harry was an excellent at it. She'd been able to figure that one out all on her own too; Ron hadn't even had to tell her.

All of her wishful thinking about flying made Hermione think back to her first flying lesson. She had been so annoyed when she couldn't get her broom up right away. It was the first time since coming to Hogwarts that she had experienced failure. She'd quickly become accustomed to being at the top of her class after arriving and that flying lesson was the first time she had found herself on the opposite end of the spectrum. Hermione had quickly decided that she didn't care much for flying.

Before coming to the first class, she had thought that all the wizarding children would be flying circles around her. While in the classroom it was an almost level playing field since no one, pureblood to muggleborn, had ever really been taught magic before, flying was different. Those who had been raised in the wizarding world had undoubtedly been on a broom at least once in their life. It was a basic skill in the wizarding world; one she could not learn from books before coming to Hogwarts like all her other classes. After seeing how Neville handled himself on a broom however, she had felt better. Never mind that he was the clumsiest person in their year and couldn't even walk without tripping, he'd been raised in the wizarding world and couldn't handle himself on a broom. To tell the truth when Neville had taken off by mistake and broken his arm, it had actually made Hermione feel better. It had given her confidence because it took away that thought that all the children with wizards for parents automatically knew how to fly. It wasn't that she had wanted Neville to get hurt, but if he was a pureblood and he couldn't stay on a broom, then maybe she had a chance.

Harry had also given her hope that first flying lesson. His broom had leaped to his hand the first time he called it, while others such as Malfoy and even Ron hadn't been able to get theirs up on the first try. Harry had been raised by muggles like her, and had never been on a broom before, unlike Ron and Malfoy who she was sure had learned to fly when they were still learning to talk.

Then Malfoy had found Neville's Remembrall and taken off with it. Malfoy might have had some problems with his broom listening to him, but he certainly had no problems flying. Harry had taken off after him, and Hermione had been amazed then, thinking that maybe flying just came natural and Neville was the exception. That thought made her laugh now; she had later learned that flying had nothing to do with being able to perform magic at all. It was a skill to be learned, unless you were Harry Potter, and she was horrible at it. Later lessons taught her that she would much prefer to keep both her feet on the ground; she wasn't too fond of being high up in the air. Watching Harry now though, she couldn't help but love flying, and wished that she were less fond of keeping her feet on solid earth. She was a realist though, and she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she would never possess the natural ability that Harry had. She would instead have to content herself with dreaming about what it would be like to fly so freely, so naturally.

She watched as Harry went after an imaginary Snitch, leading the other Seeker around the pitch until he finally caught on that Harry hadn't seen anything. Harry must be getting bored up there, to start leading the other seeker around. Reflecting on what Harry had just done, she had to admit that he was not only a natural at flying, but also a natural leader. Whether he was on the Quidditch pitch or off, people followed him.

Harry didn't want to be a leader. He had told her and Ron that repeatedly, but it didn't matter. Leading was like flying for him, he didn't even have to try; it was natural. Sure, some of it was because he was seen as the "savior" of the Wizarding world, but that wasn't what really made people follow him. Hermione couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but he had a certain quality about him that made people trust him, made them follow him. Maybe it was in the way Harry just knew how to do things. He might not know all the theory behind a spell like her, but he could do it. It could be the way he never gave up; he always gave everything he had. Whatever the task demanded Harry gave everything, and then some. Or maybe it was the way he put everyone in front of himself. He cherished his friends above everything, and he would do whatever he could to protect them.

The specific reason didn't matter; Harry led and everyone else followed. He was a true Gryffindor. He embodied the ideal; it was in his very nature.

A sudden cheer brought Hermione back to the present and away from her thoughts. Next to her, Ron had his eyes on the sky. When she looked up, she could see that Harry and the other Seeker were in pursuit of the Snitch. This time Harry really had seen it, and the other Seeker had as well. Harry stretched out his arm and opened his hand, grabbing the Snitch before the other could even catch up to him. Once again, Gryffindor had won.

Hermione felt Ron grab her and pull her towards the pitch. She left her reflective state behind, it was time to celebrate and support Harry. It didn't matter if it was a hard game or an easy one like today's; they always met Harry on the pitch. They would always be there to support him. Whether he was leading the quidditch team, the students at Hogwarts, or the fight against Voldemort, they would always be there to stand beside him.

AN: Thanks for reading and please review!


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